TPM: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will tee up a Friday test vote on a piece of President Obama’s jobs bill that would provide states money to retain or rehire teachers and emergency first responders.

“We are going to make sure there is a vote on our bill this week,” Reid told a crowd of fire fighters and teachers at a rally on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

The $35 billion legislation would be paid for with a 0.5 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year – a tiny new marginal bump that Republicans unanimously oppose. Some analyses suggest the legislation would save or create 400,000 jobs.

“The Republicans who work in the Senate suit up every day and come down and play their game in the Senate by following the lead of their leader – and that is, whatever they do, to make sure they do everything they can to make Barack Obama lose,” Reid said.

He’ll face some resistance from his own caucus as well. Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) bucked Reid last week and opposed debate on Obama’s entire jobs bill and have signaled they’ll do the same this time around.

They may be joined by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) who took to Twitter during Reid’s speech to oppose the legislation:

…. remember, this is a test vote about whether to debate the jobs bill – not a vote to end debate, or to pass the legislation itself.

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38 Responses to “a test vote”

Joe, it’s paid for by ultra rich Americans bucking up and paying their fair share. Guess we know where your allegiances lie…glad your days of standing in the way of middle class and impoverished Americans are numbered. You should hang your sorry head in shame.

Unfortunately President Obama had little choice in “forgiving” him I think. Democrats couldn’t afford to lose him. At the time he was the 58th vote in the Senate (prior to the switch of Spector and the win of Senator Franken.

I can’t wait for this attention-seeker, this back-stabber, to retire and be replaced by a real democrat.

How was that a bad decision? Lieberman would only have behaved worse if he were “punished”. That man is very vindictive. Pres. Obama’s forgiveness saved us a lot of grief. And don’t forget that Lieberman played a role in getting a few Repubs to vote for DADT or at least allowed it to come to a vote.

Can we do 5miilion tweeters for Lieberman. Tester, and Nelson let’s use Facebook, Emails phone calls
or what ever it takes. I’am confused did Lieberman Voted with the Demos for the AJA bill? I am not sure.

He voted for it to proceed to debate but said that once debate was done he would vote against the bill itself. The vote that failed was merely a vote to proceed to the next step not the vote to pass the bill.

I will call Liberman to remind him AGAIN that he is in office to represent the will of Nutmeggers not DC lobbyists! I am so sick of his crap and am soooo looking forward to getting rid of him next year. SMH!

This is off the subject sort of, but I need the great minds at TOD to help me.

I was having a conversation with a friend who is liberal and I heard her saying that the President hasn’t been strong enough. I think this means he hasn’t been bad ass enough; that she wants him to stand up to those evil Republicans and show his stuff. She said a fellow democrat said the same thing, as well as her son who’s a musician in the army in D.C.

I talked about all he’s accomplished, how Bush didn’t put the 2 wars, Medicare Advantage, or the tax cuts for the rich in the budget and how the President did, and then looked like the deficit went through the ceiling. She said she wished he would have tooted his horn louder about all his accomplishements. I said the media doesn’t cover what he does, how they downplay it or don’t cover it.

I talked about DADT and how he got that done without being loud. She talked about how Bush was terrible, but strong and Clinton was loud also. I said this President has gotten a lot more done than Clinton.

When I told her I’ve found out about a lot that he’s done from this blog and could send her articles, she didn’t want to read it.

Is it just that people want a “bad ass” in office? How do all of you approach these type of comments? Now I realize I should have brought up the 2010 election in the Congress, but I still think she wannts a “fighter” in office.

Go check it out. It catches you off guard because it uses profanity to make a point. If she needs some kind of bad a$$ mojo this might do it for her. The meme that PBO isn’t tough enough is old and worn out. You could also just ask if she thinks killing Osama bin Laden would qualify for tough enough.

Not sure if you’ll see this response, but in short, yes far too many people want a “bad ass” – “a fighter” as president. This means they want someone who speaks loudly and carries a big stick. I think the president could have been a little bit more aggressive in his communication, especially once the Republicans took over the House – as aggressive as he is now with the Jobs Bill. But I think he is keenly aware of the fine line between being aggressive and sounding like a jerk or an angry black man.

Being more aggressive is not getting him votes in Congress and its not even raising his approval ratings. It makes us feel better. It makes some liberal pundits feel better and write more complimentary blog posts but its not getting votes. And no matter what people say all this “fighting” won’t matter unless he gets the bill signed. People like a fighter but they really love a winner and in their minds its all the same thing.

Touche’ gobrooklyn. You gotta weigh, measure, and evaluate all ways to reach your objective. It should be obvious to the most casual observer that cave man tactics won’t work. We have the right man doing the job….Just think what it would be like if we had say, Alan West or Cornell West, or maybe a Ron Christie. Close your eyes and imagine…….GO OBAMA! 4MORE FOR 44.

gobrooklyn, let me tell you what I think the President is doing the right thing. The President is showing that he is out there fighting for us. He is showing that these Republicans are willing to let people suffer . If the bill is not sign, if it is not passed, the American people will see who fought for them and who didn’t and the President can use this in his 2012 campaign. I disagree with you totally, because if I see someone who is willing to fight for me, to stand up for me, it does matter alot. And President Obama is a fighter and he is a winner. What do you suggest he do, sit back in D.C. and try dealing with those radical Republicans, who want to see this economy fail, who don’t want to do a dam thing to help, because to them it’s all about 2012. The President is doing the right thing, and I hope he continues to do it. People have to understand Mitch McConnell said his number one goal were to make this President a one term President, so these Republicans are doing everything they can to see to it that it happens. Meaning they aren’t going to do a dam thing, if it might help this President. How do you propose the President get the votes?

the fact that your friend “didn’t want to read” a blog with fact-based accounts of what the President has accomplished is a big tip-off that she already knows the truth but doesn’t want to acknowledge it. Therefore, she’s hiding behind the generic “he’s not strong enough” complaint. That is a typical disingenuous and evasive excuse that some “liberals” use to criticize this president when they are too embarrassed to be honest about what their real problem with him is.

Bush was NOT strong. He had the entire media megaphone at his beck and call – protecting him to the point of damaging this country’s economy, reputation abroad, and safety of our citizens at home and elsewhere. And it was precisely because of all the “compromising” and “failing” that Clinton did, that PBO ended up having to spend time fixing stuff that should have been dealt with over 10 years ago.

Does your friend appreciate theatrics or does she appreciate accompolishment. It can never be said that President Obama didn’t fight for everything he accompolished…..he fights smarter not louder or dirtier. Sorry your friend likes to go by the Republican playbook. I appreciate your frustration, personally the politics always make me crazy….I just want to see people working together to get things done, and one of the many reasons I adore this President. He is brilliant, pragmatic and intent resolving problems.

Tell her she has a childish view of what strong is, probably from watching too many Rambo movies. If she wants a fighter maybe she and her friend and son can draft Mike Tyson, Manny Paquiao or Floyd Mayweather for President. I know my sarcasm probably does not help but I’m sick of hearing this complaint from so-called Democrats about PBO. He is the same person he was when he was running for the presidency. After 8 years of W., Americans said they wanted a president who would work with the other party, improve our reputation in the world, pass healthcare reform, get us out of Iraq and rebuild the economy. We said we wanted a calm, thoughtful, highly intelligent, cool under pressure President and PBO has delivered in every way, even in the economy comparatively speaking. He is the President we said we wanted. He has not changed but many of his “supporters” have changed, unfortunately.

Finally, ask her if she thinks Romney, Perry and Cain are strong enough for her?

Thanks all for your advice and comments. I put the WTF has Obma done so far website on my Facebook page. I honestly think people think being aggressive accomplishes something. I agree with whoever said it just makes you feel better; doesn’t get anything else accomplished.

Like I told her; I’d rather see accomplishments than noise.

I do hang with you all here everyday, several times a day. That’s where I get the real facts. Thank God for this blog! Kudos to you Chiptsticks!

Please tell me how are you going to see accomplishments, when the people you are dealing with don’t want to see you get any accomplishments, they are willing to see this economy in the tank, then to help this President. What people have to understand, you can’t make anyone work with you who refuse to work with you. We know what these Republicans are up too. We know what this President is dealing with, these are not normal Republicans, the only dam thing they care about is defeating Obama. I hope the President keep doing what he is doing. I hope he continue to show the Republicans for what they truly are.